Former Fox News Host Gretchen Carlson said she would have “thought long and hard about not signing” a non-disclosure agreement four years ago had she known the country was about to go through a cultural reckoning on sexual harassment in the workplace during an interview with Greater Boston's Jim Braude Monday.
“Had I known I would have ignited a cultural revolution, I would have thought long and hard about not signing that NDA," she said. "I had no idea we would be at this place in time right now, and made so much progress."
Carlson sued the network in 2016, when she accused then-CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment and retaliation. She ultimately settled the case for $20 million dollars and a public apology — but the payout came with a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. That meant she was not allowed to talk about what happened to her, even as her story forms the basis of a new feature film, “Bombshell.”
Carlson said she has since asked to be released from the agreement.
Massachusetts state Senator Diana DiZoglio, spearheading legislation to prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements, publicly broke a nine-year-old NDA she signed while working as an aide to a state legislator in 2018. She joined Carlson for the conversation.
“The goal of this campaign is to ensure we are protecting victims of harassment and assault moving forward from being forced into the shadows, and being forced to be silent,” DiZoglio said. “Right now, currently, in Massachusetts people are actually allowed to purchase the silence of their victims, and protect predatory behavior so these predators can move from one victim to the next."
During the interview, DiZoglio accused both Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and Gov. Charlie Baker of impeding the proposed legislation.
"The speaker wants to continue to be able to abuse these agreements in his chamber with his employees," DiZoglio sad. "And the governor [Charlie Baker] has continued to be silent as well."
DeLeo did not address the bill in a statement sent out by his office after Monday's broadcast, though he did say that the House has been proactive about the issue.
"Over the past three years, the House took decisive action and immediately ordered an in-depth review of the House’s human resources function," DeLeo's statement read. "As a result of that study, the House adopted a set of comprehensive human resources reforms including the creation of a new, independent, Equal Employment Opportunity Officer (EEO) to ensure a professional working environment for all employees and visitors to the House."
DeLeo also said that at the time of negotiations over DiZoglio's NDA, no allegations of sexual harassment were made and that they did not arise until DiZoglio broke the agreement in March 2018.
On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said he supports the use of NDAs only if the claimant wants one.
Carlson spoke about Lift Our Voices, a campaign she initiated with two other Fox colleagues to end NDAs and forced arbitration clauses that keep victims of harassment in the workplace from speaking out.
“It may be too late for my particular story, although I am demanding that Fox News let me out of my NDA,” she said. “We’re doing this for the myriad of women across this country and men who have been muzzled.
"When they know you have a voice, maybe they don’t harass anymore, or abuse, or assault."
After this story aired, House Speaker Robert DeLeo responded with a written statement. This article has been updated to reflect his comments. Gov. Charlie Baker's comments at a Monday press conference were also added.
